Nearly everything a person does will impact their skin health. This includes the kind of foots you eat, what you drink, exercise, creams, lotions, exfoliators, etc. But one of the last things that most people think about in terms of affecting their skin is sleep hygiene.

So let’s dig into what sleep affects in terms of your skincare.

1. Younger-looking Skin

Getting a good night’s rest is absolutely essential if you want younger-looking skin. But what does skin have to do with wrinkles? Well, it has to do with collagen production.

Skin is an organ, and no differently than any other organ in your body, it grows and develops all the time. While you’re sleeping, your skin cells produce a substance called collagen. Collagen helps skin to appear more plump and improves skin’s natural elasticity, meaning that fewer wrinkles and lines will appear. Just a single additional hour of decent rest can make an enormous difference over the course of a month. Just imagine how that compounds over a lifetime!

2. Skin Imbalance

Just like all things, balance and moderation are essential for healthy function. Skin is no different. Depriving yourself of badly-needed rest will only serve to throw your complexion out of its pH balance. This can lead to many unsavory outcomes. It includes things like breakouts, rashes and a whole host of potential problems.

This underlies why your skin, just like your other organs, need regular nutrients, rest and attention. Do not skimp on sleep in your skin care regimen. You will likely regret it.

3. More Pronounced Circles

Those dark circles under the eyes can absolutely be the worst. The worse your sleep hygiene, the worse this will affect the dark circles under your eyes. People who already struggle with this should likely try going to bed earlier and focusing on quality rest. Whereas there are treatments that can artificially help with this, they are only temporary fixes and will likely do very little to make a long-term difference. So make sure and get the rest your eyes need.

4. Drinking Before Bed

In order to get all of the benefits of a restful night’s sleep, you need to be aware that drinking alcohol within an hour or two of bed will likely prevent you from hitting your deep REM cycle while sleeping. It’s during this REM cycle that the truly restorative effects happen within the body. So do your best to limit your exposure to alcohol close to bed.

There is No Shortcut

Unfortunately with sleep, there isn’t some magical formula you can use to correct for losing it. There simply is no substitute for getting a great night’s rest. I know this isn’t always possible, but start looking around in your life for opportunities to relax a little more. Also, be on the lookout for ways to improve your sleep hygiene. A lot of the time, we take electronic devices to bed with us or sleep with the TV on — behaviors that can put a serious strain on your body’s natural sleep rhythms.

So make sure your room is cool and dark, put away your devices and turn off the TV. Then, see how much your skin thanks you for bothering to take the time!